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to build my next rig

D

dynamota

Member
Most of you have answered similar questions in hundreds of other threads. But would definitely like to tap into this immense knowledgebase to build my next rig.


1. What will YOUR PC be used for.
Gaming, Web Development/Design, Internet activities, some or little video encoding

2. What YOUR budget is.
$2000 (with a 20% margin)

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
US

4. IF YOU have a brand preference.
Intel, and would like to avoid nvidia motherboards(the screwed me big time, by not releasing the nforce3 chipset drivers for vista 939 socket.)

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts,
The case a "mid tower" is the only part I will end up using (basically all new parts)

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
I have read a few/some articles and I am lost. Unfortunately I am more confused than ever.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking
Yes, Plan to overClock to resonable levels. No experience in OCing or waterCooling . A friend is helping me with the OCing part

8. I am planning to get about 4g of ram and plan to run Vista and do not plan to use SLI

I am not a hardcore gamer, but game regularly. I love to play Crysis, UT3 and Guildwars. Crysis does not work on my existing setup(AMD FX 55, nvidia K8Neo mobo, 6800 ultra video, 2 g ram)

Hoping to push this rig for another 2.0 to 2.5 yrs
I am having a tough time in deciding between E8400 and Q6600. So with gaming in mind, where do I start? Though I am leaning more towards the E8400. But somebody shared something about reduction in the life of the CPU with OCing

My queries are:
(I am definitely OCing)

1. Whats the best mobo for either of these cpu's
2. Whats a really good non SLI video card option? I am open to the ultra's
3. Great ram for either of these cases
4. A good PSU with enough juice for some extra addition
5. I wanted to get the raptors, but they are only available at 150G



Tx in advance...





 
There's no such thing as a best mobo, p35 would be the best chipset though. What do you need from the mobo ? Firewire/Esata ? How many sata ports ? You could go cheap with the gigabyte ds3l or the abit ip35-e, or you could go a little more expensive with the ds3r, or the abit ip35 pro, depending on what you need. A good videocard would be a a 8800GT 512mb or a 8800GTS 512mb, ultra isn't worth it right now, because he 8800GTS 512mb performs similar to an ultra unless you play at VERY high resolutions with lots of AA. You could look into the HD3870 X2, which also outperforms the Ultra, costs 449$ though. RAM, this is without rebates: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231122 or you could get some cheaper set for 68$ AR. http://www.newegg.com/Product/...E16817139004&Tpk=550vx Good PSU with some headroom, could also look into the 520hx, which is modular. Raptors SUCK, if you are hellbent on spending to much money, get a 750gb HD, most of them perform almost equally if not better in real world applications. Personaly I'd rather get 1-2 samsung 500gb t166 spinpoints, cool and quiet running HD's, good bang for buck. And, E8400 over Q6600 if you're mainly a gamer. It's a tough call to be honest, coz you can OC the q6600 to 3.4ghz on a good aircooler, like a tuniq tower 120, but the E8400 can be OC-ed to 4,0ghz on a good aircooler, and MOST games don't use more then 2 cores, so a faster clocked dualcore will be better. And in a year or two, you can upgrade to a qaudcore, when games do start using more then 2 cores.
 
I am half way through the list.

here is what I have narrowed thinsg down to.

Os = Vista 32/64 haven't decided which one yet

1. CPU = Q6600 (hoping to OC to 3.6. Can it be clocked more? I mean, keeping stability in mind?)
2. Abit IP35 Pro mobo
3. 8800 Ultra video Card
4. Hoping to use my existing psu (Antec 550 Neo H2)
5. Sound Card: x-fi xtreme gamer

struggling with the list below:

1. Really good memory (hoping to go 2 *2G and that can help with OCing )
2. Hard Drive (non raptor)
3. Really good cooler (Edit: decided to use Thermalright ultra 120 extreme )


Let me know if you can point me to certain directions. Please let me know if a change in my some of my parts can really help with the system makeup. (budget = $2000.00)

tx
 
- agree with Marc with the Ultra video card. Go for 8800GTS or 3870X2.
- Unless you really have some device that don't have 64 bit drivers written for, go for Vista x64. The 800MB of extra RAM should improve your performance when you're multitasking.
- Unless you do heavy multitasking, go for E8400 ( as per Marc).
 
The 3870X2 is a single slot, PCI Express 1.0 (x16) card. It has two GPU's, but it operates as a single video-card. It will work fine on your P35 as long as your PSU has the power support for it and you can fit it into your case.

The Q6600 is nice, but I can't help but shake the feeling that a Penryn based Quad core is on the way that'll hop into the Q6600 territory. For that reason, I bought a $78 Pentium Dual Core and am over-clocking it to 3.2ghz. It's enough to tide me over, and the hit I'll take reselling it won't be as bad as if I went with Conroe Dual or Quad.

For hard-drive, I recommend Western Digital Caviar with 16mb cache, sata 2.0 port. For memory, being that the Q6600 has an 8x multiplier, I would say some quality DDR2-800 with high possibilities of it being Micron D9, if not just go 1066 to be guaranteed a 500 FSB on the memory side.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231145

Here's a good PSU that I haven't seen fail and has great reputation

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139002

I also second the "Don't get an Ultra" note. You can get a 3870x2 that'll put the Ultra to shame, or get an 8800GTS G92 512mb, over-clock and hold your weight with an ultra, not to mention save power and money in the process.

The 8800 Ultra is going the same place the 5700 Ultra went, and that's absolutely nowhere.
 
The Q6600 has a 9x multiplier, but yea, DDR2-800 is a good idea.

Your older PSU might not be up to the task, have you checked the amps on 12V?

I third the HD 3870x2.

Get as big of a drive as you want.

For the Q6600, if you want to OC it to 3.6GHz, that's 9x400, so you are running at 1:1. I'd get good RAM anyway for a Penryn upgrade, like the 4GB of GSkill DDR2-1000 at newegg (too lazy to link) for $114.
 
tx guys.

I think I will get the 3870X2 for my video card.
Tx for the tips on the PSU. I think I will get a new one.

I will like to keep the Penryn upgrade in mind while getting ram. (This is the only piece I am still reading up on)

 
The new qaudcores will come with lower multipliers, hence you need better ram. That ddr2 1000mhz should do the trick though. 3.6ghz is somewhat unrealistic on a q6600 just using aircooling, although it's the best aircooling you can get. For stability, running it 24/7, 3.4ghz is a more realistic goal, otherwise, go water. With the money you are spending btw, going water isn't a bad idea, for 300$ you can buy a hell of a waterkit to keep that q6600 real cool. Soon there will be waterkits for the HD3870 X2 as well, but that will probably require dual radiatiors, which might get a little complicated 😛
 
Don't buy a pre-made water cooling set up. Build something yourself, that way you have better components and more knowledge about how YOUR system was made so you can fix it if any problems happen.

Check out Xtremesystems.org for tips on putting a system together. This is what you want for a CPU loop:
Swiftech MCR320QP 3x120mm radiator
Swiftech Apogee GT or Dtek Fuzion CPU block
Swiftech MCP655 with speed controller
Swiftech MCRES Reservoir that takes an expansion bay

And of course tubing, clamps, routing attachments and so on, so forth.
www.jab-tech.com is a good place to buy your cooling stuff.
 
looks like cooling is a whole another chapter or learning process. I think I will just get running with the siggestions/leads I have received so far. Hopefully in about 2-3 months, I will enough basic knowledge to start working on the liquid/water cooling system. Thnka you for really great leads and suggestions so far.

Current Status so far:

Os = Vista 64 (going with the 64 bit)

1. CPU = Q6600 (hoping to OC on an aircooler)
2. Abit IP35 Pro mobo
3. 3870X2
4. Power: CORSAIR 620HX
5. Sound Card: x-fi xtreme gamer
6. Thermalright ultra 120 extreme
7. memory: G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000)
8. Hard Drive: SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB
9. Will be replacing my existing 120mm fans

How does this setup look to you guys? It comes down to apprx $1350.00


 
FYI Vista x64 is pretty good. Make sure you download the digitally signed drivers from the manufacturer's websites and you'll be fine.
 
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